This creative writing workshop with author Jan Němec is not so much about the techniques of creative writing as it is about the human prerequisites for it. Writing requires not only concentration but also openness to oneself and the courage to “speak up”. Given that the theme of this year’s FALL festival is censorship and self-censorship, in this workshop we will explore what prevents us from writing without restrictions as well as how and why it does so. Is it others? Ourselves? Language? At the very least, we will strike back: We will attempt to examine and describe these restrictions. Perhaps this will allow us to glimpse what shines through from beneath them.

Everyone is welcome, whether they have experience with writing or not.

Jan Němec is a Czech writer, journalist, and publicist. He is the author of a biographical novel about the life of Czech modernist photographer and artist František Drtikol, A History of Light (2013), for which he received the European Union Prize for Literature. He also wrote the auto-fiction novel Možnosti milostného románu (Ways of Writing About Love, 2019), which was nominated for the Magnesia Litera Award, or Liliputin: Povídky z války (Liliputin, Stories from the War, 2022). Together with Petr Vizina, he compiled a book of interviews on spirituality titled Znamení neznámého (Signs of the unknown, 2021). Since 2022 he has been editor-in-chief of the HOST literary magazine.